Life expectancy of medically transitioned young people

[porridgecake]

I am sure I read on here that children and young people who start puberty blockers and then continue on cross sex hormones long term have a greatly reduced life expectancy.
Does anyone have any information on this?

This is just anecdotal but years ago I asked the manager of The Bangkok Lady Boys what happened to the performers when they got old. He said few lived to a ripe old age due to the hormones/drugs etc. He also said for some it was purely financial, they weren't all trans. Grim.

@Chickenyhead

I believe the question is being deliberately avoided, recording such data would no doubt be considered transphobic.

Given the shorter average life expectancy of autism by 16 years and their prevalence within the group. In addition to the horrific impact of hormones and suppression of natural body processes, I wouldn't like to guess 😬

I would argue the exact opposite - by NOT collecting the data one is being transphobic. Just as one is racist if one doesn’t collect data on the impact of, say, insulin use in black diabetic people, or one is misogynistic if one doesn’t collect data on the impact of beta blockers on women with high blood pressure.

I do think, @ButterflyHatched that the healthcare professionals missed a huge opportunity when they failed to follow up with your cohort's transition. The (anonymous) data could have made a huge difference to the debate, today when numbers are so much higher.

On the other thread, you mention you are on three types of medication to treat the side effects of your transition. If you don't mind me asking; were you briefed about these before you started your transition or have they arisen since them? (E.g. expected). I find it deeply upsetting to think of these young transitioners undergoing treatment without a) being told about the likely outcomes - good and bad - and b) not getting the body they desire.

As with the other thread Butterfly, you are male. The health risks are significantly higher for females. Particularly for those who end up with very early ovary (under 30s) removal due to atrophy and who then do not take estrogen supplements.

There is a much longer list of risks and I doubt you can discount the female detransitioner accounts of what even a few years of testosterone has done to their health. Sometimes life limiting and if ovaries and uterus removed, it can be life shortening.

As I say, we have been through this on the other thread if I remember correctly. It is really very important that you state very clearly, as you have, that you are a single data point and a male. So, you can only post from a male health perspective.

I also remember you did have other medical issues associated with transition that you have failed to mention here.

I've been watching the youtubes of TTExculansic, lots of horror stories there, and realistic commentating on the unrealistic expectations of these young people.

yes. And it does seem to be that female transitioners fare the worst of it. We have also had many women comment on the life long residual issues they have with medically necessary mastectomies. I cannot imagine a life in store for those young women of significant nerve damage, paint tingling and discomfort.

It is yet another aspect of transition that males do not have to deal with.

Absolutely, helle.

Its good that you feel that you are doing well, butterfly. please do remember though that one of the most glaring flaws from a feminist perspective in the sparse data available at a population level is the lack of sex disaggregation. It seems that the effects of hormonal manipulation and surgery are far, far worse for females than males ( I am using those terms in their biological sense), and this is broadly going unrecognised. Given the huge shift from majority MTF to FTM young transitioners, action and understanding are urgently required.

It’s just not good enough that the data is not collected, and then such data as there is is obfuscated and played down.

@TheABC: while it would be useful to be able to say 'look, the numbers do indeed follow what we've all been individually saying for decades', every time I hear about a data breach or a hostile member of NHS staff, I'm somewhat relieved to have been spared all that. We largely made it through under the radar and escaped without seemingly the whole world constantly debating our right to access treatment and scrutinising every facet of our lives! Transition is something that happened in my past before I was even an adult and I barely even thought about it most days for years until recently - when it became impossible to escape the constant exhausting bombardment.

I was on three types of medication earlier in the year, each related to transition; I've since stopped one (related to surgical side effects from over a decade ago) as it turned out it was no longer needed and have reduced the other down to the lowest possible dose, with the expectation that I'll soon be able to drop it too. That just leaves the usual hormone therapy I've been taking for twenty years.

The documentation for that hasn't really changed since I was first issued it, and the increased risks that come from synthetic hormone therapy were made very clear at the time. I knew peers who were told they had to stop smoking before they'd be given hormones!

I knew peers who were told they had to stop smoking before they'd be given hormones!

You say this as if it is outlandish. It is well known that for women, smoking and taking hormonal contraception (which raises the levels of hormones that women already have endogenously) raises the risk of heart attacks, thromboses and strokes.

Stopping smoking before taking hormone treatment in a male body is the bare minimum of safety precautions. I had to have a blood test to see if I carried the gene for a particular disposition to blood clotting issues before I was prescribed the pill. I was clear for it but I am now actually banned for life from using any oestrogen-containing contraception anyway, due to a totally different issue I developed (resulting in hospital treatment)! I was told to inform my close female relatives they were now banned from it too, because of the likelihood the issue was genetic.

when it became impossible to escape the constant exhausting bombardment.

Yes.... quite. It is fucking exhausting to be fighting the constant bombardment so that our daughters have a life that is free from stereotypes, free from male dominated health care regimes and with amazing opportunities for females that are equitable as those being for males but without them having to fight any male to access those opportunities. Because, of course, we have been fighting to establish those all our lives and now those opportunities have been diminished and diluted again.

So... yes. The constant exhausting bombardment is impossible to escape.

I knew peers who were told they had to stop smoking before they'd be given hormones!

Like purgatory I am also surprised that you did not realise that many women knew the elevated risks associated with taking hormones (for me also in the form of contraceptive) and smoking.

I am also sure you are fully aware that oestrogen increases your personal chance of stroke etc. I mean.... women have a wonderful choice of taking hormones needed for their bodies (because they are female bodies) to counter some effects of that body's processes (reproduction or menopause) and having increased strokes etc or not taking them and suffering the long and drawn out menopause symptoms with no assistance.

And smoking has been linked to reducing the effectiveness of that oestrogen supplementation anyway.

So, I am not sure why you would be surprised that if a male wants to take estrogen supplements they would be told they needed to stop smoking.

And I appreciate you not calling it HRT because the dosage of estrogen that transitioned males receive is not replacing lost estrogen as it is in females. It is and it remains 'cross hormone therapy.'

seemingly the whole world constantly debating our right to access treatment and scrutinising every facet of our lives!

Nearly word for word what my anti-vaxxer cousins say - I'm being slightly facetious, and genuinely glad you are healthy and happy.

But the importance of accurate investigation and recording of medical data is in the best interests of everyone's health - as it's been pointed out several times, female ppl have specific risks here.

Transition is something that happened in my past before I was even an adult and I barely even thought about it most days for years until recently - when it became impossible to escape the constant exhausting bombardment.

What 'bombardment' are you referring to? And why do you think this is happening?

We largely made it through under the radar and escaped without seemingly the whole world constantly debating our right to access treatment and scrutinising every facet of our lives!

The 'under the radar' bit was well planned, wasn't it? Christine Burns of Press for Change has talked about the importance of changes to the law going unnoticed by most of the population.

But this 'right to access treatment' means what, exactly? We are told that being transgender isn't a medical condition. If that is so, why would transgender people need special medical treatment and why should they have a 'right' to that treatment?

But this 'right to access treatment' means what, exactly? We are told that being transgender isn't a medical condition. If that is so, why would transgender people need special medical treatment and why should they have a 'right' to that treatment?

Exactly. Transgender we are told is neither a physical medical condition nor a mental health medical condition but free specialised (and expensive) health care both in the areas of mental and physical health is demanded. Make your fucking minds up.

The 'under the radar' bit was well planned, wasn't it? Christine Burns of Press for Change has talked about the importance of changes to the law going unnoticed by most of the population

Good point Old Crone.

I don't believe this data is being recorded and that is nothing short of medical negligence. People need to know both the risks and the benefits in order to give informed consent to any treatment.

I've chosen non-necessary medical interventions for mental health reasons (medical management of miscarriage) so I fully understand and sympathise with taking physical risks in order to ease psychological suffering. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do and doctors should help you. BUT only if you fully understand the potential consequences of your choices. Otherwise? I'd argue that uninformed consent is not consent at all.